Welcome to New Haven (83 page)

Alex stroked her face and walked away.

Holly attempted to walk into class, without falling down.

Ben came in late and simply nodded a greeting to Holly.

Alex met Holly, and Ben after class and they walked out to the lunch table, after getting theirs from the cafeteria. Ben was still quiet, and after being late for class too, Holly was worried.
 

“Are you ok Ben?” She asked and then glanced to Alex. She could tell by the look he gave her that it had something to do with Dev.
 

“Uh, Yeah. Just got carried away in the gym.” He replied.
 
His excuse for being late. They got to the table and met up with the others.
 

“Where’s Dev?” Alex and Holly both asked at the same time.

“Here I am!” an excited Dev squealed as she came up running behind them with her lunch. “Oh my God, Holly!” She said, bouncing, as she threw her arms around her.
 

“The dress is amazing and it fits perfectly!” She gushed as she sat down.
 

“Tell us.” Said Riss.
 

Dev told the girls about how, when they’d seen the dress, Holly had secretly bought it for her and had it altered.
 

As Dev was talking, Holly leant into Alex.

He sat straddling the curved bench; his body fully turned to Holly. He wrapped an arm around her waist and as he did, Holly moved one of her legs over so she too was straddling the bench, her back to him.

She slid backwards so that her back was flush with his front.

He wrapped both arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder.
 

Holly held his arms with one of hers whilst her other hand stroked his leg that was under the table.

“I like this position.” He whispered into her ear, sending shockwaves of pleasure down her spine.

Holly turned her head to the side to whisper into his ear.

“I could turn around the other way, but then…” She didn’t finish her sentence.
 
She let that sit with Alex and let him wonder what she was going to say.
 

“But then…what?” He asked a few seconds later.

“You’re an adult now, babe. I’m sure you can guess.” Alex swallowed hard, and Holly felt his ‘thoughts’ twitch bend her.
 

“Anyway, it fits perfect and I can’t wait to wear it tonight.” Dev said as she was still talking about her dress.
 

“How does it fit, Dev?” Holly asked with mock interest, purely so Dev could elaborate.

“I’m glad you asked, Holly.” She replied with her fingertips to her chest. “Well, it’s a bandage dress so it clings to
every
curve.” Dev continued. “The best part is how it holds the ‘ladies’.” She said with her hands in front of her chest.

“How the ladies are held is
very
important.” Said Holly, grinning and she felt Alex flinch. “Don’t you think, babe” she asked him as she turned her head to the side to look at him and his shock expression. “The ladies
definitely
should be held…firmly.” She whispered, and Alex let out a shaky breath.
 

“Holly…” He swallowed again and Riss and Kayla were both giggling.
 

Holly reached back with the hand that was on his leg and gently squeezed his perfect rear. She looked towards Ben and saw that he was visibly affected by what Dev had been saying.

His hands were running through his hair and down his face.

“So…Alex.” He said, trying to strike up conversation.

Nice try.

She doubted either of them could hold a conversation right then.
 

Holly and Dev nodded at each other and winked at Riss and Kayla who, by then, knew what Dev was doing to Ben.

She continued her assault on his nerves.

“After all that figure hugging, I bet it’ll feel great to take it off and just throw it on the floor at the end of the night.” Dev said and pulled her lips into her mouth to stop herself laughing. “I bet that is sooo satisfying.”

Kayla was turning her head into Kyle’s shoulder and hers were shaking as she laughed.

“You know what…?” Riss joined in. “…It is and Oh my God, it feels great.” Ryan turned to her in surprise, and she whispered something into his ear. He glanced from Dev to Riss with understanding.

Holly saw her mouth to him “Don’t say anything.” And he nodded.
 

“I can’t wait. I’m really looking forward to being…
held
…like that.” Said Dev.

“Oh come on!” Ben almost shouted.

“What?” She said, innocently.

Ben’s face was red and Dev seemed to be loving it.

Holly pressed her rear further back to press against Alex’s bulge, and he tightened his grip.

“For God’s sake, don’t move.” He whispered frantically.

Holly threw a satisfied smile over her shoulder.

“Stop it, Dev.” Ben said.

Holly could see he was getting more and more agitated.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dev cocked her head to the side with fake confusion.

“Yes you do. I’m asking nicely. Please, stop it.”

“I’m talking about my dress, Ben. What’s the problem with that?” It was obvious Ben was quite distressed at Dev’s intimate details about her dress.
 

“No problem talking about your dress, Dev, but you
know
what I mean and I’m not prepared to discuss it in front of everyone.”
 

They all turned to Dev to see what her response would be. Usually, it would be something to set Ben off in a mood, or start a huge bickering match between them.
 

“I’m sorry.” Was all she said, which made Ben snap his eyes to her.
 

“What?” He looked shocked at her apology. Obviously expecting some sort of snarky comeback.
 

“Yes. I’m sorry. If my brother had problems with me talking about it, then I should expect you to have problems too.”

There it was. The sneaky reference to him saying she was ‘like a sister’ to him.
 

“Do
you
have a problem with it, Alex?” Dev asked as all eyes turned to Alex.
 

“Hey, your dress, your birthday too. You do or say what you want.”

He held up his hands as if to say ‘don’t bring me into this’.

Holly’s hand ran down his thigh and then slowly back up the inside. “Uh, I have no problems…at all.” He added, possibly thinking Holly was torturing him so he would be clear on his answer, and he was right.

She stopped moving higher but gave his muscular thigh a squeeze.

“Well then…” Said Dev.

“
I’m
not your brother, Dev” Ben almost growled.

“I’m glad you cleared that up.” She replied, resting her elbow on the table and looking him right in the eye.
 

Alex and Holly both turned to Ben to see his reaction and saw him glance at Dev’s mouth and then quickly back to her eyes.

He was
definitely
losing control.
 

“Oh your presents!” Kayla interrupted, diffusing the situation.
 

The girls got Dev some makeup sets, brushes, and dress jewellery. She also got some hair products and gift cards.
 

“Thank you so much girls.”

“The gift cards are from the boys.” Said Riss.

Alex got gift cards from the boys too. He knew he was difficult to buy for anyway, as he already had the things he wanted.

He opened a gift from the girls.

It was a book titled ‘How to date a British girl. The do’s and don'ts.'.

 
“We got that before you guys got together.” Chuckled Riss.

It was a funny book and not intended to be taken literally. It had translations of British sayings and what American terms
not
to say as they meant different things. Like, ‘fanny’ and ‘rubbed out’.

He opened the top of a wrapped box, and his eye widened as the girl’s burst out laughing.

His cheeks heated as he put the box back into the gift bag.
 

“What is it?” asked Holly, wondering what could have embarrassed him.

He opened the bag, showing the top of the box he’d ripped the paper from and
 

Holly’s eyes widened too.

“Fifty should keep you going for a while.” Giggled Kayla.

“Let me see.” Said Dev as she pulled the box towards her, and she gasped, then grinned. “Oh my God, that’s awesome!” she threw her head back and laughed.

“Hey, Alex. You should pass some to Dev. There’s a chance she could do with some too.” Laughed Riss.

Holly thought she looked keen to start up the tension again.

“What?” He asked, looking from Riss to Dev.” Ben looked in the bag to see what the fuss was about and his face fell.

He looked…sad.

Holly felt awful for him, and she turned to Dev who had stopped laughing when she saw Ben’s reaction, her face full of remorse.
 

The bell sounded for the end of lunch and Alex, and Holly walked hand-in-hand to her class, next door to his. As the others went into theirs Ben stayed back.
 

“Ben, Riss was just kidding, you know.” Said Holly, quietly so nobody could hear.
 

Ben looked from Holly to Alex, realising Alex would’ve told her what he’d said.
 

“I haven’t said anything.” She assured him.
 

“I figured. She would’ve screamed at me if you had.” Ben replied, as he dropped his head down.
 

“No she wouldn’t.” Said Alex. “She may take things a bit too far but Ben, Dev would
never
scream at you for that.”

“You
do
know I’m the one she was talking about yesterday.” Ben added with a scowl as his eyes looked teary.

“I kinda guessed that, yeah.”

“Well I told her it was wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened. To find out now…She won’t speak to me again.” Ben shook his head. “I was an idiot, and now I’ve fucked everything up. I need to go.” He turned and started walking.
 

“Where?” asked Alex. He was worried for his best friend. He wanted to tell him everything was going to be fine, and he just needed to talk to her.
 

“Home. I need the walk. I’ll see you tonight.” Ben stopped outside of their classroom door, looked in and then carried on walking, his head down and his hands in his pockets.
 

“I hope he’s ok.” Holly said as she leant into Alex’s chest with her arms around her.
 

“He just need to calm down, babe. He’ll be fine.” He kissed Holly gently before they both
really
had to get to class.
 

“Where did Ben go?” Dev asked as they drove home. She hadn’t said anything about him in class after what had happened.
 

“He said he wanted to walk home.” Alex replied. He’d told the teacher Ben wasn’t feeling well and had gone home. The others knew he was fine.
 

“But it’s far to his house!” Dev said, raising her voice.
 

“Dev, if he wanted to, he could’ve gotten a cab.”
 

“Has he texted you that he’s back? Did you text him to check? What if there's been an accident?”

Alex could tell that Dev was getting upset over Ben’s leaving and walking home, alone. He could certainly handle himself, but he could tell Dev was worried.

“He knows to text me.”

Alex’s phone beeped, and he passed it to Holly to check as he was driving.

“It’s Ben. He’s home now. He said he’ll text you in a while about driving arrangements.” She said.

Dev relaxed and ran a hand through her hair.

When they got into the house, Dev clicked her fingers.
 

“Oh yeah, Riss and Kayla will be here at four to pick us up, Hol, so I’m going to leave you two alone for a bit.” She said with a wink as she walked through to the kitchen.
 

“Well in that case…” Alex said as he stood to face Holly.
 

He ran his hands down over her waist, her ass, and then her thighs before picking her up, wrapping her legs around him.
 

“…I’m taking you upstairs.”

Holly stopped breathing as she brought her arms around to hold onto Alex as he carried her up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” She squeaked in surprise.
 

“You’ll see.” He said with a wicked glint in his eye.

He opened the bedroom door and walked in, closing it behind him.

He reached back to remove Holly’s shoes one at a time, kicking off his own.

He walked to the bed and kneeled down on top, turning to lie Holly down with her head on the pillow, her feet falling to the bed.

This time, he stayed between her thighs.

He reached the back of his neck for one of Holly’s hands and interlocked their fingers, as he brought it to the pillow and held it down. Then, he did the same for the other.

Holly’s breathing was rapid, and her heart was pounding out of her chest. Her core was burning hot where she could feel Alex pressing against her and her nipples were so hard they could cut glass.

“You’ve been a bad girl today, Miss. Edwards.” He said, slowly and low into her ear.
 

“Holy fuck!” she breathed as her thighs tightened against Alex’s hips as she fought for control.

“You almost had me losing it at the lunch table.” He said, brushing his lips against her cheek and across her jaw, to her ear.
 

“Alex, Oh God!”

“If you had moved even the tiniest bit…” his tongue darted out a fraction and he licked just under her ear as Holly bit her lip and squeezed his hands “…I would have…” He brought his mouth back to her ear, his lips gently sucking on the lobe.
 
“Mmmm.” He moaned.

Holly knew
exactly
what he meant.

He would have burst in his jeans, right there, in front of everybody. She knew how he felt because she came close to that feeling of losing control every time he had his hands on her.
 

“
Oh!”
She cried out in a high pitched tone.